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Everyone feels sad and blue once in a while, but depression is a gloom that lasts for weeks or months. It saps the life out of you and often leaves you feeling as if the world is empty and bleak. You're probably depressed if for two weeks or longer you're overwhelmed by feelings of sadness, anxiety, or worthlessness; lose interest in normal activities such as eating, making love, and seeing friend...

What is gastroenteritis? Many people blame "the stomach flu" whenever they fall ill with nausea, diarrhea, or vomiting. But stomach flu is actually a misnomer: The viruses that cause the "real" flu (influenza) usually don't affect the stomach. When doctors speak of stomach flu, they're usually referring to a popular name for a condition in which the digestive tract becomes irritated and inflamed....

What is dyspepsia? Dyspepsia -- commonly known as indigestion -- is a catch-all term for pain or discomfort in the upper abdomen. Everything from stress to certain painkillers can cause indigestion, but with treatment and some basic lifestyle changes, most people find they can be free of it. If you have persistent stomach trouble, schedule an appointment with your doctor. You can rest assured he...

What is gastritis? Many people -- including some doctors -- use "gastritis" as a fancy word for stomachache, but the term really means "inflammation of the stomach." Most people with sore stomachs don't have gastritis. When inflammation does set in, it can cause considerable pain and discomfort. Fortunately, gastritis is usually easy to control. You may need to make a few lifestyle changes or get...

The gallbladder often seems more trouble than it's worth. This small storage pouch plays a minor role in the body, but it's a major source of disease. Specifically, the organ can become a breeding ground for gallstones, hard crystals that can cause absolute misery. Each year, about 1 million Americans develop gallstones. More than half never experience any troubling symptoms, and their gallstones...

GERD is the acronym for gastroesophageal reflux disease, a condition in which stomach acid frequently splashes into the esophagus. GERD occurs when the valve connecting the stomach and esophagus becomes weak, turning the junction into a two-way street. Because the esophagus isn't well equipped to handle such a harsh liquid, GERD often causes burning pain and discomfort. Over time, it can even infl...

Lying down after a big meal, you feel a burning pain in the center of your chest. Before long, the fire spreads upward to your neck. The pain eventually dies down, but not before you curse that third helping. That searing pain you felt was heartburn, also known as acid indigestion -- a symptom experienced by more than 60 million adults in the United States. A survey from Simmons Market Research B...

"Food, glorious food," begins the chorus of young boys in Oliver, the musical based on the Charles Dickens's classic, Oliver Twist. "Hot sausage and mustard. While we're in the mood, cold jelly and custard!" the residents of the orphanage continue in their ode to an imaginary feast, an antidote to their daily gruel. Although the poorhouse fare may be foreign to many, the cravings evoked in the bo...

What is Crohn's disease? A hundred years ago, before Crohn's disease had a name, doctors dismissed it as an untreatable illness or possibly a tumor. Doctors didn't know that patients' immune systems, the weapons for battling disease, were attacking their own digestive tracts. In people with Crohn's disease, tissues deep within the lining of the digestive system become inflamed. The inflammation ...

As far as anyone can tell, the appendix serves no particular purpose in the body. While your other organs are busy keeping you alive, this small, pinkish, finger-length abdominal sac seems content to just take up space. But every once in awhile, the appendix can be a matter of life and death. If the organ becomes swollen and inflamed -- a condition called appendicitis -- you'll need an emergency o...

Your knee feels sore and stiff when you wake up in the morning. After an hour of creaking and groaning, it finally decides to loosen up for the rest of the day. The pattern repeats itself the next day. And the next. At this point, you have two choices: Put up with the pain or get some help. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 46 million Americans have b...

Walk into a crowded bus station or supermarket, and there's bound to be somebody who has had a colostomy. The thing is, you probably won't know who it is. People who have had a colostomy can work, exercise, and have sex -- in short, many are just as active as ever. But patients who have never had a colostomy often take a different view. For them, a colostomy represents a threat to their lifestyle...

What is celiac disease? Just about everybody loves the smell of freshly baked whole-wheat bread, but not everyone can afford to take a bite. For anyone with celiac disease, this treat is practically poison. People with this condition are extremely sensitive to gluten, a class of proteins found in all foods made with wheat, rye, or barley. Even small amounts of these proteins can damage the intesti...

What is campylobacteriosis? Most store-bought chicken comes with a bonus: Campylobacter, the leading cause of food-borne illness in the United States. According to the Food and Drug Administration, this bacterium was found on 20 to 100 percent of raw chicken breasts the agency tested in various food surveys. And if you're not careful, you'll get infected, too. Campylobacter infections don't seem...

What is amebiasis? As the name suggests, amebiasis is a disease caused by an amoeba. In this case, the culprit is Entamoeba histolytica, a one-celled, protozoan parasite that often lurks in food and water contaminated with human feces. In approximately 90 percent of all cases, E. histolytica doesn't cause any problems. But if conditions are right, the parasite can start eating away at the walls ...

Scary stories about cats and babies abound, most nothing more than superstition. But there are real diseases associated with changing the kitty litter while you're pregnant. Fortunately, with a few precautions, you can minimize the risks and still enjoy your favorite feline. Why is kitty litter a potential danger during pregnancy? Cats can become transmitters of toxoplasmosis, a disease they can ...

What's the measles vaccine rash? It's a rash that shows up in about 5 percent of people vaccinated for measles (rubeola). The rash looks a bit like the one caused by the disease itself: red dots on the chest and neck. These may occasionally become raised bumps and in rare cases may spread to the rest of your child's body. The rash usually appears about 10 days after your child was vaccinated, but...

What is a middle ear infection? A middle ear infection is simply an invasion of viruses or bacteria into the small space that lies just beyond the eardrum. The germs usually stage the assault while a child is recovering from a cold or flu, ailments that leave her ears partly clogged with fluids and create an ideal habitat for microbes. As the infection takes hold, the middle ear fills with pus, a...

Consider the standards used to diagnose oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and you may think they could describe any kid on a bad day -- and almost any teenager almost every day: They argue with adults, deliberately annoy people, defy rules, and have high fits of temper. All these activities are all-too-familiar to parents. The distinction lies in the frequency and intensity of the behavior. F...

What are mumps? Caused by a virus that infects the salivary glands near the jawbone, mumps is a highly contagious illness that shows up mainly in swelling and soreness in the jaw area. The swelling is usually on both sides, so that the sufferer bears a passing resemblance to a chipmunk. In some cases, though, one side may puff up several days before the other. Your child may run a fever and compl...

What causes allergies? Every human body carries an arsenal of chemicals to fight off bacteria, viruses, and other intruders, but sometimes these weapons backfire. If your child has allergies, she responds to things in the environment that are not invaders. The body produces antibodies, and when your child is exposed to the irritant a second time, her body releases a number of chemicals. One of th...

Men are always just one misstep away from groin pain. Even if they manage to avoid serious injury, some aches and pains just come with the territory. It's important for a man to know which types of pain can be shrugged off and which require medical attention. Pulled groin muscle (adductor strain) Groin injuries are common among athletes, especially soccer players. One common type of injury is...

Whether you're having total joint replacement or just a minor repair of damaged cartilage, you should learn as much as possible about the procedure before you enter the operating room. Try to find a surgeon who has extensive experience with the operation you'll be having, and be sure to ask plenty of questions. One in particular should be at the top of your list: What will this surgery actually ac...

Most of us have been there: What starts as a dull ache or uncomfortable jolt when you sip your ice tea signals the onset of tooth decay. Soon the pain becomes so unbearable that you can't call the dentist fast enough. The good news is that you can prevent this all-too-common ailment with regular checkups and good oral hygiene. What causes toothache? Tooth decay is the most likely cause. Bacter...

What is strep throat? Strep throat is a bacterial throat infection marked by swelling and extreme soreness of the back of the throat, or pharynx. It can hurt so much your child doesn't want to swallow. (The name "strep throat" is a shorthand term for the throat infection, which is caused by Group A streptococcus bacteria.) Other symptoms of strep are fever (often above 101 degrees), chills, decre...

Marina Alyea, a certified massage therapist in San Francisco, is familiar with the ravages of back pain. She has worked on people's backs, she said, that were so tight and inflexible that they felt armored. "Often people don't realize how much tension they feel until they're touched," she says. The most typical problem areas are the upper back, neck and shoulders, followed by the lower back -- ac...

What is rheumatoid arthritis? On the surface, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) looks like a close relative of osteoarthritis, a condition all too familiar to many older people. Both conditions make joints stiff and sore, but that's where the similarity ends. Its cause and its destructiveness put rheumatoid arthritis in a class by itself. What's the difference? Unlike osteoarthritis -- a condition brou...

What is osteoarthritis? Osteoarthritis, by far the most common form of arthritis among older people, is a condition brought on partly by aging and long-term wear-and-tear in the joints. After years of use, the cartilage that cushions the joints can break down until bone rubs against bone. Spurs often grow on the sides of the affected bones, which only adds to the pain. Osteoarthritis is rarely c...

When we think of invading bacteria, we usually don't think of our joints as a potential target. But if there's an infection somewhere in your body, the germs can travel through your bloodstream to attack a joint. Bacteria can also enter a joint directly, either right after surgery or from an injury, for example. Either way, the infected joint becomes swollen, inflamed, and painful. Doctors call th...

For nearly 20 years, social worker Susan Mason suffered from mysterious and debilitating muscle pain throughout most of her body. Time and time again, doctors told Mason that she just had the flu, or that she was depressed and the aches would eventually go away on their own. But they never did. "It just hurt too badly for me to believe there wasn't something wrong," Mason says. Finally in 1999, d...

The typical arthritis sufferer has at least a few gray hairs, a wrinkle here and there, and joints that have started to wear out after decades of use. But not every person with arthritis fits that profile. Some forms of arthritis can strike children or even infants. Arthritis may seem like a cruel fate for a young person, but many children cope admirably with their disease. With treatment and supp...

Joshua Heller wasn't worried when he noticed a painless knot below his right ankle in February 1994. A couple of months later, he felt a dull ache in his right foot, but the 26-year-old chef continued working his usual long hours at his family's seaside restaurant. In his spare time, he played racquetball and coached two local sports teams. By summer, periodic shooting pains in his instep forced ...

Few of us need to be given more reasons to drop those extra pounds. We could do it for our hearts or our chins, for lower medical bills or freer spirits. But did you know you should also do it for your joints? The fact is, being overweight increases your risk of degenerative arthritis in the weight-bearing joints, especially the knees. According to the U.S. Surgeon General's Office, your odds of...

Experts have discovered a cheap, powerful tool that can relieve pain, improve motion, and generally make life a little easier for people with arthritis. It's powerful enough to relieve many symptoms of both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, yet safe enough to use every other day. It's convenient and inexpensive, and when used properly, causes no unpleasant side effects. It's called a barbel...

Kaye Wellborn* will never forget her first -- and last -- abscessed tooth. The San Francisco Forty 49ers had just won the Superbowl, and a huge, exuberant crowd was celebrating in the street where she was house-sitting. "I was already in so much pain I had tears running down my face," she says. "People were honking horns and beating drums, and with every drumbeat the throbbing pain in my tooth bec...

Nine people walk in a circle, obeying the commands of instructor Nancy Kieffer. "Imagine a cup of water on the crown of your head," she calls out. The directive may seem like something out of a 1950s charm school guide for perfect posture, but for this particular warm-up exercise, balance is the key element. The class is Tai Chi, and the students are practicing the ancient Chinese martial art to g...

Whooping cough (pertussis) is a disease that should be rare by now. We've had an effective vaccine against whooping cough for decades, but the illness continues to thrive. In 2009, 17,000 cases were reported in the United States among people of all ages, and many more cases go unreported. In fact, an unusual whooping cough outbreak in California in 2010 sickened more than 6,000 infants and kille...

If you don't suffer from osteoarthritis, take a moment to consider your good fortune. An estimated 50 million Americans suffer from arthritis or chronic joint symptoms -- and the Centers for Disease Control expect that number to balloon to nearly 70 million by 2030. You should also think about your future. Are you doing everything you can to protect your joints? Osteoarthritis is the kind of arth...

Most people with chronic arthritis will readily admit they have trouble with certain tasks such as climbing long flights of stairs or opening tight jar lids. But there's another challenge that often goes unmentioned. The pain, stiffness, and fatigue caused by arthritis can interfere with a person's sex life or even bring it to a halt, says Annette Owens, MD, PhD, a sex counselor and cofounder of t...

Many arthritis sufferers complain of a little stiffness in the morning. Then there's Jane Kowalski,* an 83-year-old living in Baltimore. She often woke up feeling like her joints had been dipped in cement. On some mornings, she couldn't even get out of bed without help. Now Kowalski has a new way to start the day. Instead of lying there helpless, she takes the time to stretch all of her muscles b...

We ask a lot of our joints. We bend and twist all day and think nothing of it -- until arthritis sets in. More than 50 million Americans were living with arthritis or chronic joint symptoms and with a rapidly aging population, that number is expected to jump to nearly 70 million by 2030. "Arthritis" literally means joint inflammation, and can refer to any condition that causes pain and stiffness ...

Imagine two people with identical cases of arthritis. Even on x-rays their joints look exactly alike, and every test comes back with the same results. The only difference: One person is in agony, while the other has relatively little pain. Many people assume there's a one-to-one relationship between arthritis and pain, meaning if damage to the joints is severe, so is the pain. The truth is more c...

Alternative remedies for arthritis are nothing new. Folklore is full of potions and poultices that supposedly relieve joint pain, and the advent of modern medicine hasn't dampened the public's interest. If anything, arthritis patients are more adventuresome than ever before. It's no surprise that so many arthritis sufferers are willing to venture beyond the bounds of mainstream medicine, says Joh...

Twelve older women are sitting in a shallow swimming pool while the strains of Swan Lake rise in the background. An extended family of bright yellow rubber ducks bobs around the pool as Maria Antonietta Nevarez leads the group through a simulated bicycle exercise. "Okay, close your eyes: Where are we riding to today?" she asks the group. "We're in Golden Gate Park -- there are irises growing on th...

Baby boomers everywhere are just starting to approach what they thought they never would: old age. Lots of the people born between 1946 and 1964 (the dictionary definition of a boomer) are now eligible for senior citizen discounts at restaurants. Many have grandchildren. And many have sore, creaky joints, the ultimate badge of aging. At 41, Chris Webb of Billings, Montana, was at the younger end ...

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